Cincinnati-based entrepreneur Harrison Baer aims to provide people with an opportunity to break up the monotony of their everyday lives.
His new business, Mystery Machine, gives people a low-stakes way to gamify something as routine as purchasing a drink from a vending machine. Its colorful purple and blue branding is reminiscent of the colorfully iconic Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo.
Here’s how it works: customers are presented with a colorful vending machine with several vague categories, such as domestic soda, caffeine-free, international mystery, and sparkling mystery. After paying for the drink, customers choose an option and then receive a random drink from that category. For example, if they select domestic soda, they might get anything from Mountain Dew Code Red to Sun Drop.
“It’s taking an old concept of the vending machine and adding a fun new twist to it with the Mystery Machine aspect,” he told LINK nky.
Harrison said the Mystery Machine has over 1,000 unique drink possibilities. The machine has a similar appeal to concepts like mystery subscription boxes, blind box collectibles and Japan’s capsule toy machines. Essentially, the business offers randomness as a service, allowing customers to roll the dice on their drink while guaranteeing them a novel experience.
“It comes down to just the everyday mundaneness of life and how I think for a lot of people, every day is the same, and a lot of their experiences are the same and and they might not know it, but a novel thing, like the unexpected or a mystery might be the thing that puts smile on their face or creates an experience that they’ll remember,” Baer said.
With two locations in Cincinnati: one at Bold Faced Dairy Bar and the other at Norwood Delite Creamy Whip. Baer is now expanding south across the Ohio River, as he plans to place a Mystery Machine at Dreamys Ice Cream on Beaver Road in Union. He plans on opening the machine in August.
David Draper, founder of Dreamys, said he thought Baer’s concept would be a perfect fit at his Union shop after discovering one while getting ice cream with his family.
“It just really called to me and my family because we’re trying to create a unique experience for our customers, and now that I know more about it, it’s just even better,” he said.
Draper believes Mystery Machine’s presence on location will drive an increase in foot traffic to his business. Additionally, Dreamys will provide the option to transform some vending machine drinks into floats.
“He’s marketing the other companies [where his machines are located] and helping those companies out because he’s so passionate about his product, it’s driving business to those that are coming for only the Mystery Machine, that are also getting the other products,” Draper said.
Currently, Baer is targeting family-friendly environments such as ice cream shops and pizza parlors that have high levels of daily foot traffic. The concept is popular among children and families who frequently visit both types of establishments.
“I think from the very start, just seeing that first kid’s face, when he got his mystery drink, I knew it was going to be something big,” he said.
Baer is charging headfirst into a social media marketing campaign, with videos on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram Reels. The videos often feature excited and bewildered customers who anxiously, and sometimes comically, react to the drink that the machine dispenses to them. For Baer, each video presents an opportunity to achieve virality, as each moment is organic. Several of his videos feature local residents, in addition to popular influencers such as Softmaxplus.
Baer said he takes inspiration from Savanna Bananas co-owner Jesse Cole, who has popularized the barnstorming baseball team over the past five years. Looking ahead, Baer hopes to have Mystery Machines in parks, amusement parks, arcades, baseball stadiums, football stadiums and schools.
“My mindset with the Mystery Machine is that it really allows for one to embrace the mystery of life,” he said.
